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When the meek League of Women Voters slams you Republicans as secretive and meaning to hurt people, you know you are slammed.

The Republican zealot thinking that most horrifies me is that they sacrifice their children and descendant families who carry their last names and have that burden of shame and dishonor to try to carry around in the world of heavy hate that Republicans celebrate to impose and destroy lives with.

It's like McCarthyism -- look what became of his family -- only this time it is Minnisism or Mannixism.

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Do you think all the conservative pundits will critize Minnis the same way they came out against the Multnomah County Commissioners for they way they secrety pushed through gay marriage licenses?

Of course not. In my experience, Republican "leaders" in this country are some of the most cynical, disingenuous people around. In the case of gay marriage, they claim they aren't bigoted, they just didn't like the process. Then they turn around and pull stunts like this.

By the way, another thing Minnis pushed through without allowing Democrats or the public time to respond was an amendment to HB 389. The amendment allows counties to opt out of Measure 18, which banned hunting cougars and bears with dogs, and banned hunting bears with bait. Again, they prove they don't really care about majority rule if the majority doesn't go along with their wishes.

Do you think all the conservative pundits will critize Minnis ...

Repbulicans leaders are the most cynical of all politicians. And what I have learned in my conversations with folks on the right...none of it matters. Bush is a prime example. Despite all of the well publized actions that do not follow his words, most conservatives defend him too the death. Iraq, fiscial resoponsibility, states rights. It goes on and on.

Part of the right staying on message is the discipline. If a group of people say the same thing over and over, and it's what conservative folks want to hear, and all the right wing pundits are saying the same thing, then the truth matters not. Rs have figures out how they can manipulate the conservative public into supporting them. It goes something like "tell them what they want to hear, and then do whatever the hell we want."

It's harder on the left because people are more independent minded. We on the left like a good discussion. We can't compete with the cynical hypocrisy of the rights power grap, which is why the Rs control so much of the state and federal governemnt right now. The same tehcniques will not work on the left.

<h2>Remember, nothing trumps what you believe when you are a conservative, even pesky things like facts and reality.</h2>